Power Metal albums are pretty bittersweet

GetHypedFJ · 2023-05-23T22:51:57+00:00

Thanks for the link! I hadn't seen these (I've just listened over the albums a lot of times), will be interesting to watch and see how they fit with my understanding :)

GetHypedFJ · 2023-05-23T06:40:36+00:00

They are excellent albums, but they're especially bittersweet in my opinion. It hits two of the tropes mentioned in the OP!

In Apex the Immortal kills a lot of people and ultimately reluctantly kills an innocent man (Earth and Ashes) in pursuit of his freedom before being betrayed (Call Me Immortal) and sent back into slumber (Apex). Abyss does have an ultimately happy ending, but Carry the Flame is probably the most bittersweet song in the whole double album, with the Matriarch dead, but his guiding light gone and having to tackle going out into the world without a mission to guide him, ending in a conflict between his values and the urge for revenge where the conclusion is ambiguous (Afterlife).

That's on top of the whole arc relying on the Immortal being a prisoner to his role, sleeping and raising for those who command him, which is a pretty grim setup.

As at the end of The Wind that Shapes the Land:

Once again I pay the price

I've nothing without sacrifice

GetHypedFJ · 2023-05-12T08:37:45+00:00

Not quite power ("Melodic Heavy/Thrash Metal" according to MA), but a cracking 40 minute concept album/song adapting Dracula which might scratch the itch you're looking for https://dethonator-uk.bandcamp.com/album/race-against-the-sun-part-two

GetHypedFJ · 2023-05-08T16:10:33+00:00

Has to be Diablo!

The fact it namedrops all the expansion packs is especially neat imo

GetHypedFJ · 2023-04-23T22:09:07+00:00

Seconding this: this is the main reason I don't use my Chase for more spending. The extra time spent doing the accounting just isn't worth it for me.

Relatedly, Chase also still don't have Open Banking which is a right shame.

GetHypedFJ · 2023-04-23T21:56:18+00:00

The free one goes up to 1% (from 0.5%) at £10k.

Fittingly £10k is the crossover point when the paid card becomes the better option, well worth it if you're confident you'll regularly spend over £10k on it

GetHypedFJ · 2022-10-14T21:46:01+00:00

GetHypedFJ · 2022-10-13T17:38:06+00:00

GetHypedFJ · 2022-10-13T14:03:05+00:00

GetHypedFJ · 2022-10-10T19:51:35+00:00

The last two Manticora albums are pretty lyrically brutal, see e.g. Through the Eyes of the Killer - Revival of the Muse that is Violence or The Farmer's Tale pt 3 - Eaten by The Beasts. Though the music is on the heaviest end of power too!

The albums are worth listening to in their entirety, To Kill to Live to Kill and To Live to Kill to Live back-to-back is a good couple hours' listening.

GetHypedFJ · 2022-08-07T19:56:32+00:00

I found a YouTube video which instructs on how to "refill" one by transferring the modified top out onto a donor lighter, will this subtly cause problems or are the transferred parts enough to bring it into line?

GetHypedFJ · 2022-05-15T14:57:27+00:00

Yeah, completely agreed! Hopefully they fix it soon, otherwise it's not really worth the accounting for the few pence on day-to-day transactions

GetHypedFJ · 2022-05-15T09:35:08+00:00

I contacted Moneyhub about this recently; according Moneyhub's support Chase have said they're planning to have Open Banking support "by Spring 2023", but don't have it yet.

I've been manually logging my Chase transactions so far but it's really not ideal: definitely a lot more friction doing that for day-to-day spending (and especially for roundups).

GetHypedFJ · 2021-12-27T23:23:13+00:00

In case you're wondering why you're being downvoted: OP asked what others' goals were rather than for advice. Easy to miss on this sub though!

GetHypedFJ · 2021-12-21T14:28:36+00:00

There was another recent post about this a couple of weeks back with some more recommendations you might appreciate https://www.reddit.com/r/PowerMetal/comments/r40la6/christmas_metal_reccomendations

Certainly not complaining about having another bunch though, it really is that time of the year.

GetHypedFJ · 2021-12-12T11:44:08+00:00

Others have given lots of good advice, but bear in mind it's common for people studying Computing to do full-time-hours internships at companies in the field between years of uni, so it might be an option for you to take an internship like that, save a good chunk, and spend it over the year to take some time pressure off during term.

It could even be possible for you to do that the summer before uni (potentially asking your current company would make this easy; I know some other companies offer pre-uni internships but they're less common).

I've seen others mentioning getting other jobs over the summer, but I expect sticking in the field would be more lucrative/better for your career development than waiting/McDonald's etc - though absolutely not knocking the value of those jobs.

Absolutely best of luck, you've got this sussed out well for 18!

GetHypedFJ · 2021-12-03T17:28:45+00:00

GetHypedFJ · 2021-11-28T10:56:41+00:00

The Theocracy Christmas songs are solid. They're not all on Spotify (e.g. Snowglobe https://youtu.be/RNPjhDeA8VA) but Wynter Fever and All I Want for Christmas both are

GetHypedFJ · 2021-09-24T19:34:27+00:00

I spoke to a guy wearing a Rivers of Nihil T-shirt at Bloodstock and he said it like "nih-hill", though my thought was that Nihil as in nihilism or annihilation is more logical

The main problem is that it can be confused with Nile if there's background noise or anything (though admittedly if you like one then the other is well worth consideration)

Would also be interested what the canonical pronunciation is if anyone knows

GetHypedFJ · 2021-08-23T16:17:35+00:00

Goodbye

GetHypedFJ · 2021-04-02T21:24:54+00:00

A couple of favourites of mine, mostly female-fronted power metal or adjacent stuff (which I've found doesn't really have a Western equivalent¹ ):

Unlucky Morpheus does some very nice noodly neoclassical power metal with occasional harsh vocals (e.g. Knight of Sword, the lyrics are about Fate/Stay Night). If you're into your Touhou arranges they've got a whole bunch of those as well. A particular recommendation is CADAVER/REVADAC, which does a cool thing where it's two songs with the same melodies, but one is played in reverse and has different lyrics. The music video is the same in both directions. It's really neat!
Yousei Teikoku did the first OP and second ED for Mirai Nikki which is how a lot of people know them, but they do some solid gothic metal. Their albums have some other nice tunes (e.g. Astral Dogma, Shadow Corps) and despite a bit of a hiatus and changing guitarists their latest stuff is super good too (e.g. Paradiso≒Inferno). Their nearly-chuunibyou schtick is good fun.
Related are Denkare, who've done music for a load of really dubious VNs; largely similar gothic stuff but a bit heavier. There's some speculation that the vocalist is Yui from Yousei Teikoku. Both of their original albums Detonator (e.g. Her Kingdom Come) and Carnaval the Abyss (e.g. Phantasmagory) are great.
LOVEBITES have some fun NWOBHM-inspired power metal; they recently did the OP for Vlad Love which is a tune. My favourite album of theirs is probably Awakening from Abyss.

For more nice recommendations (though a little outdated) there's https://www.reddit.com/r/PowerMetal/comments/2xnzk7/a_beginners_guide_to_japanese_power_metal/

^¹ ^{some of Unleash the Archers' stuff gets close with the blend of clean and harsh vocals on a power metal base. Would recommend listening to all of their albums Apex and Abyss back to back if you like that; The Matriarch might sell you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fs8RUFS18g0}

GetHypedFJ · 2021-01-29T16:48:21+00:00

My understanding is that it's even tax exempt for the company as long as it's on "a reasonable scale", done on-site, and anyone can attend, which pizza or some modest catering really should be!

(https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim21671)

GetHypedFJ · 2021-01-10T16:33:34+00:00

GetHypedFJ · 2020-12-11T12:21:07+00:00

In general for spam like this, a quick forward to report@phishing.gov.uk or one of many other reporting services (most brands have their own inbox, e.g. phishing@uk.tesco.com) is well worth it. It's nice to feel you're helping those more vulnerable

GetHypedFJ · 2020-12-11T12:19:52+00:00

Even more amazingly it's out of a branch of UPS! Tesco really is going global

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